In Woodburn, Oregon educators are moving forward with vigor to close the achievement gap. What’s the key to their success? A shared vision, created through the strategic planning process.

“There are no simple, short-term solutions to complex problems,” said Walt Blomberg, Woodburn School District superintendent. “Therefore, through a long-range strategic planning process we engaged our community in developing strategies and action plans that guide our decisions.”

In 1997, the initial core planning team of 30 parents, students, staff members, Board members and businessmen and women met to discuss the district’s future. The result of their work was a plan that included five original strategies for organizational change. Each was designed to improve student learning and close the achievement gap. Since its inception there have been annual reviews, and, in 2002, a five-year renewal was conducted. At each step the plan was evaluated and updated to reflect our progress and/or new thinking.

To date, the plan has guided several major curriculum initiatives, including Literacy FIRST! Inquiry-Based Math, the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program and Teaching For Mastery. The plan also recognizes the importance of quality professional development in sustaining systemic change. To support these initiatives, the district has provided a variety of opportunities for staff, especially in the areas of English language development, sheltered English techniques, and critical thinking strategies. The district has also implemented a mentor program to help acclimate new teachers to Woodburn.

A shift in thinking

Of Woodburn’s 4,639 students, 70 percent are of Hispanic descent and 11 percent are of Russian descent. Additionally, 67 percent have been identified as English Language Learners (ELLs). In order to meet the educational needs of such a large number of minority students, WSD moved forward with an English Transition Program seven years ago to help them learn content in the community’s two, dominant native languages (Spanish and Russian) first, and then transition into English over a period of five years.

But now the district is exploring other options.

“When the core team met two years ago to renew our strategic plan, they discussed the value of learning two languages. They could see that the students who were learning English through ETP, had an advantage – students were actually coming out of the program bilingual,” Blomberg continued. “As a result, the team felt we had a unique opportunity on our hands – not only could our English Language Learners be bilingual, but so could our English-only students.

“So they created a new strategy for the district to implement: to create a system that ensures all students graduate literate in more than one language.”

Because WSD has already focused so much time and attention on building capacity for its English Transition Program – by hiring teachers who speak Spanish and Russian – it’s a natural shift for the district to move toward bilingual education for ALL students now.

According to English Transition Program Coordinator David Bautista, WSD is working to implement two models of bilingual education for all students, which are supported by more than 25 years of longitudinal, national research. The first, called an 80/20 Two-way model, places ELLs and English-only students in the same classroom, where they are taught for 80 percent of the day in the ELLs’ native language and 20 percent of the day in English.

The second is the 50/50 Two-way model. Again, ELLs and English-only students are placed in the same classroom, but in this case they are taught for 50 percent of the day in English and 50 percent of the day in the ELLs’ native language. Instruction in both Woodburn models is conducted in English and Spanish, while conversations about utilizing the district’s Russian resources are underway.

“According to the research conducted by Dr. Wayne Thomas and Dr. Virginia Collier, these two programs truly close the achievement gap for between language minority and English-only students; and they actually boost student achievement for both ELLs and English-only students more than 11 percentage points above the national average on annual standardized tests in Reading,” Bautista said.

With results as convincing as those, it’s no wonder parents of both ELLs and English-only students are requesting that their children participate in the program as it comes online. By next fall, the district will be serving 48 ELLs and 48 English-only students in four classrooms at the Kindergarten and first-grade levels.

“We are thrilled that through the strategic planning process a substantial community-based goal was identified for our educational system, and we are now moving toward meeting the goal,” Blomberg summed up. “We will close the achievement gap in Woodburn, and we’ll do it by enhancing the learning opportunities for all our students.”